The Bourg of Seborga is to the Principality of Monaco what Cancun is to the Belize, it is a place for the uncommon, fill with history, nature and the atmosphere so dear to Ernest Hemingway or was it Sommerset Maughn!

I note, with some reticence, the presence of Knights Templar in the historical account of the principality, but that was then and this is now, so no Dan Browning here, please. Always bear in mind Umberto Eco's caution:

The lunatic ... doesn't concern himself at all with logic; he works by short circuits. For him, everything proves everything else. The lunatic is all idée fixe, and whatever he comes across confirms his lunacy. You can tell him by the liberties he takes with common sense, by his flashes of inspiration, and by the fact that sooner or later he brings up the Templars.

(The Templars are known these days as the 9/11 Knights of Truth. But that's another story.)

Where was I? Oh, yes, Sua Tremendita ("His Tremendousness"), called such because he liked to curse and swear, although the connection escapes me, was an elected Prince, and a very popular one, winning 304 of a possible 308 votes in 1963, and handily winning re-election in 1995. Seborga declared itself sovereign in 1993, issuing "symbolic passports" and coining money, and was consequently recognized by 20 states, Burkina Faso being the first to do so. Seborga maintains consular representation in 10 countries today.

The official motto of Seborga is Sub Umbra Sede ("Sit in the shade.") Whether this is advice or a lively Seborgan curse is not immediately apparent.

Giorgio I planned to step down in 2006, at the age of 70. But an upstart appeared on the scene:

Princess Yasmine von Hohenstaufen Anjou Plantagenet [!] wrote to the newly-elected Italian president, Giorgio Napolitano, claiming that she was the true heir to Seborga's throne and offering to hand it over to Italy. Carbone gruffly dismissed her claim, voicing doubts over her lineage: "I have never seen her," he said. "We call her the internet princess".The Internet Princess was intelligent enough, it seems, to claim descent from a gaggle of royal Houses in order to stake her claim, but, alas, she was and remains a fraud. And a traitor, as well, meriting, it seems to me, nothing less than full mediaeval justice for such a scandalous act of lèse majesté.

Giorgio I consequently decided to retain his throne, and so he did until this past Wednesday. It is not clear at this point if an heir of his own is stepping forward, but the pretender Princess Yasmine has lost no time, writing to the President of Italy to request the annexation of Seborga. This has generated at least one response, from a furious former Seborghino: